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Iranian President Coming to America

Hamid Namvar - 8/18/2005 According to media reports indicate that the United States is considering an entry visa to Iran's new president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend a UN meeting in New York City in mid-September. This would send a very wrong signal at a very crucial juncture to the increasingly belligerent Iran. Administration must firmly deny Ahmadinejad entry to the United States. And by all indications, the American public opinion would certainly welcome such a move.

Ahmadinejad, a former senior commander of the feared terror-sponsoring Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the "Pasdaran"), has a despicable past as a fire-brand radical who has been recognized by at least six Americans former hostage to have been involved in capturing and holding of Americans for 444 days in 1979.

Now, as city of New York prepares for the anniversary of the September 11 tragedy, it could very well find itself hosting a hostage-taker who has become a head of an outlaw state. According to press reports in Iran, Ahmadinejad is supposed to be arriving in New York in mid-September to address the opening ceremonies of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Although there are no diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States, as a president of a UN member state, Ahmadinejad, despite his wicked record, is covered by diplomatic immunity. UN headquarters in New York are also considered international territory, and not property of the United States. Still, this should not deter the United States to take a stand against his entry into this country.

We should keep in mind that , similar to a mafia-like world, in Iran under mullahs' rule only those who kill, torture, plunder and deceive more can move up the ladder from being an obscure Guards' commander to a head of state. To mullahs, the only accepted form of loyalty is the loyalty demonstrated by years of directly participating in ensuring the survival of ruling tyranny.

The Ahamdinejad's terrorist past, however, goes beyond the US Embassy takeover. He was a top commander in the Revolutionary Guards special unit named the Qods (Jerusalem) Force and participated in planning and execution of many extra-territorial terrorist operations.

The Qods Force has been documented to have extensive and deep relationship with Iran's proxy terrorist organization such as Lebanese Hizbollah and the Islamic Jihad. According to mounting evidence collected by the Austrian officials and Iranian Kurdish groups, Ahmadinejad was directly involved in assassination of Abdolrahman Qassemlou, a dissident Kurdish leader, in Vienna in 1989. It is also reported that he was involved in planning of an assassination attempt against British author Salman Rushdi when in the Qods Force.

While six American hostages have unequivocally confirmed that Ahmadinejad was one of their captors and "nasty" interrogators, Washington seems unsure how forceful it should press this issue. Administration has already gone as far as saying he was a leader in the student movement that organized the embassy siege but has stopped short of implicating him.

The administration apparent wavering on this issue is alarming. Sidestepping this matter will send the worst possible signal to the mullahs and to the always-ready-to-appease Europeans.

It is just over a week since Ahmadinejad has entered his office but mullahs' rogue resurgence is on full display. The barbaric crackdown of popular unrest in many western Iranian cities is on the rise, and the campaign to fuel the insurgency in Iraq is escalating. Last week, news agencies reported that US intelligence believes that a cache of sophisticated manufactured bombs recently seized in Iraq was smuggled into the country from Iran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

To firm up alliance with another rogue regime of the region, Syrian president Bashar Assad was invited to visit Tehran just a day after Ahmadinejad was inaugurated. The hastily arranged visit complements an array of praise heaped on Ahmadinejad by several leaders of Hizbollah, particularly after his remarks about the "art of martyrdom". Also last week, Tehran broke its Paris agreement with Britain, Germany, and France and started the resumption of nuclear work at one of its facilities.

Still, Ahmadinejad's involvement in the 1979 US Embassy take-over presents the administration by far with the most compelling reason to deny him visa. When the choice is between granting him UN-sanctioned visa and taking a firm and principled stand, the choice is clear.

Hamid Namvar is a freelance writer covering Iran-related issues.

H2>DoctorZin Note: Many groups are organizing demonstrations in NY city if Ahmadinejad actually comes. But if the US grants him a visa, Iranians inside the country will almost certainly be bombarded with regime propaganda arguing that the US be giving him a visa is in fact supporting him.

The Washington Times reported that two members of an Iranian dissident group living under American protection in Iraq have been kidnapped, and may be turned over to Tehran for execution.

Ireland Online reported that Iran claimed it had arrested anti-government separatists with links to British intelligence services, accusing them of involvement in violent protests and a recent spate of deadly bombings.

Islamic Republic News Agency said the best way to confront the US and EU3 dictatorship is to "impose an embargo on oil sales to those countries."

Deutsch Welle asked if the recent crisis with Iran is the end of German business in Iran.

Rooz Onlinereported that doctors at Milad hospital warned that Ganji remains only a step away from his death while on the 67th day of his hunger strike.

Khaleej Times Online reported that the wife of leading Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji accused the hardline judiciary on Tuesday of spurring her husband on to his death.

Rooz Online reported that following the assassination attempt on the life of the deputy of Tehran Provinces Judiciary, the writings of the conservative media in Iran have one common thread: accusing the supporters of imprisoned journalist Akbar Ganji in the assassination.

Eli Lake, The NY Sun reported that the Iranian prosecutor responsible for jailing Akbar Ganji hinted that he would pursue prosecution of family members of the dissident journalist.

This would send a very wrong signal at a very crucial juncture to the increasingly belligerent Iran. Administration must firmly deny Ahmadinejad entry to the United States.

One of the indignities the USA suffers for the increasingly questionable honor of hosting the UN is the necessity of allowing any rifraf in who is appointed by the government of any member state.

So don't spend your energy fighting his entry, spend it preparing for a proper (cough) welcome. This will require a large welcoming committee, with the attendant travel and lodging expense. Start early.

"So don't spend your energy fighting his entry, spend it preparing for a proper (cough) welcome. This will require a large welcoming committee, with the attendant travel and lodging expense. Start early."

Have no idea what that means. There will be no welcoming committee, though Kofi will smile a lot.

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